Listen with the ear of your heart...

From the Monastery of St. Scholastica in Subiaco, Italy.
Photo by Mary DeTurris Poust

Happy Feast of St. Benedict! Here's a snippet about St. Benedict from my newest book, The Essential Guide to Catholic Prayer and the Mass:

"While the Rule of St. Benedict covers everything from how much wine the monks were allowed to drink with dinner to receiving guests at the monastery, it's still very much relevant to our lives today. Even the parts about moderation in food and drink can be adapted to our modern lives.

"St. Benedict opens the Rule with these words: 'Listen with the ear of your heart.' That's a favorite quote of mine, and it hangs on a stone plaque in my office. It gets to the heart of prayer life, and the heart of life in general. We're not meant to run from one thing to another without focus, without peace, without direction. We need to stop, breathe, be quiet, and listen with our hearts.

"...St. Benedict teaches us to live an integrated life. So prayer is woven into the work we do each day, whether we drive a bus, balance budget sheets, or care for our children. Our community is our family, our friends, our parish, our workplace. And our study? Well, we're doing that right now as we attempt to learn more about faith and prayer in order to grow closer to Christ.

"So if we lean toward a holistic view of spirituality, of our faith as intricately woven into every moment and event of our lives, then Benedictine spirituality could be a path to explore..."